National Day of achievements

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia marks its 79th National Day on Wednesday, not only to remember the country’s unification at the hands of King Abdul Aziz but also to celebrate its achievements in the educational, health and economic sectors. Being the world’s largest oil exporter, it has become a member of G20 and is the largest economy in the Middle East.
“The National Day of Saudi Arabia is different from other countries. It is not an occasion to remember liberation from colonialists but rather an occasion to celebrate the unity of our people,” said Prince Abdul Rahman, deputy minister of defense and aviation.
Prince Sultan bin Salman, chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), said: “By celebrating this day we are not just remembering the history but we take it as an opportunity to think about what we should do to have a brighter future.”
“Saudi Arabia is a major player on the world economic map, in terms of its contributions to the capital of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and (other) development banks and in terms of providing financial assistance to the less-developed countries,” said Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf.
Labor Minister Ghazi Al-Gosaibi said his ministry had been successful in bringing down the Kingdom’s unemployment rate from 11.2 percent to 9.8 percent. As many as 36,614 Saudis were given employment in the private sector during the first half of this year, he said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton congratulated King Abdullah and the Saudi people on the occasion.
“The United States values Saudi Arabia as a close friend and ally. Ever since King Abdul Aziz and President Franklin D. Roosevelt first met aboard the USS Quincy in 1945, our two nations have united in a durable and dynamic partnership that is based on mutual respect and mutual interest. Over the years, our friendship has deepened and enhanced the security and prosperity of both our countries,” she said in a message. “On this historic occasion, I want to salute King Abdullah for his leadership on key regional and global challenges, from championing the Arab peace initiative to working to respond to the international economic crisis.”
Pakistani Ambassador Umar Khan Alisherzai extended his warmest felicitations to King Abdullah and members of the royal family and the Saudi people. “Saudi Arabia enjoys enormous respect in the comity of nations, particularly in the Islamic world,” he said while praising the king’s initiative to enhancing interfaith dialogue.

Al-Qaeda issues new threats on KSA

DUBAI: AL-QAEDA has threatened further attacks inside Saudi Arabia following a suicide bomber's failed attempt to kill Riyadh's deputy interior minister last month, the SITE Intelligence Group said.
'If you can flee with your skin, then do so. By Allah, they will climb your walls and will come to you from where you do not expect,' Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leader Abu Baseer al-Wuhayshi says in a video posted online, the US-based monitoring group reported.
Deputy Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, responsible for security affairs, was lightly injured in the Aug 27 attack in Jeddah that was claimed by AQAP, which named the bomber as Abdullah bin Hassan bin Taleh Assiri.
'Our heroes have woven their grave-clothes with your blood,' Wuhayshi says. The video also contains a telephone conversation between Assiri and the prince, in which the bomber says he wishes to return to Saudi Arabia from Yemen because he has repented.
On Sept 1 the Saudi interior ministry also released excerpts of the same conversation.
'I would like to meet you to discuss the whole matter with you,' Assiri told Mohammed, according to the excerpts broadcast by Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television. The conversation took place after Assiri arrived at the the Saudi-Yemeni border, state news agency SPA reported.
Assiri was taken to Jeddah and when he arrived at Mohammed's residence and met him, he confirmed his wish to hand himself in and also help a group of Saudis living in Yemen to return home, the ministry said. While making a phone call to one of them in the reception room where they were meeting, he blew himself up.
Saudi and Yemeni branches of Al-Qaeda announced in January their merger into 'Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula'.
The attempt to kill Prince Mohammed was the first high-profile Al-Qaeda attack on the Saudi government since militants rammed a car bomb into the fortified interior ministry in Riyadh in 2004.
It was also the first strike on a member of the royal family since Al-Qaeda launched a wave of attacks in the kingdom in 2003, targeting Western establishments and oil facilities and killing more than 150 Saudis and foreigners.

Aishwarya number 9 in Harpers and Queen most beautiful list

NEW YORK: Aishwarya Rai has made it to the 100 most beautiful women list published by Harpers and Queen Magazine.

The Bollywood Beauty was placed ninth just like last year.

Hollywood actor Angelina Jolie topped the list followed by supermodel Christy Turlington, Queen Rania of Jordan and other luminaries.

UK hoteliers charged for taunting Muslim guest

Couple face charges for calling Prophet Muhammad a "warlord"
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DUBAI: Two British hotel owners face criminal charges for taunting a Muslim woman staying at their hotel by comparing the headscarf she was wearing to "bondage" and insulting the prophet of Islam, British press reported on Tuesday.
The incident took place in March at the Bounty House Hotel in Liverpool when the unnamed Muslim guest came down to breakfast wearing a hijab, or headscarf, for the first time in her four-week stay, shocking hoteliers Ben, 53, and Sharon, 54, Vogelenzang.
The Vogelenzangs are reported to have started a debate with her about Islam and went on to call Prophet Muhammad a "warlord" and described the hijab as a form of bondage.
Months after the incident the guest complained to the police and the couple were charged with using "threatening, abusive or insulting words" which were "religiously aggravated," the Daily Mail reported.
The couple denied the charges and said the guest challenged their Christian beliefs and said they were just defending themselves. The couple face a hefty fine of £5,000 (around $8,000) and a criminal record if they are convicted.
"Robust exchange"
The Muslim woman had been staying at the hotel while receiving treatment at a local hospital, which regularly refers outpatients to them.
The Vogelenzangs, who have been running the hotel for six years, say they have already lost 80 percent of their bookings and have been forced to put their hotel up for sale as the hospital has stopped referring outpatients due to the bad publicity.
The couple are receiving financial support from the Christian Institute and have been warned not to talk about the case until it reaches court in December.
But the institute's spokesman, Mike Judge, told the British press he believed the treatment of the Vogelenzangs was "heavy handed."
"Nobody was being threatened and while the Vogelenzangs were fully aware that a robust exchange had taken place and the woman had been perhaps a little offended, they were shocked when the police became involved," Judge was quoted by the press as saying.
"If someone is in a discussion and they don't like what they are hearing, they can walk away," he said.
"We feel their treatment has been heavy handed and it is not in the public interest to go ahead with this prosecution. People see the police standing by when Muslims demonstrate holding some pretty bloodthirsty placards, but at the same time come down hard on two Christians having a debate over breakfast at a hotel," he said.

New UN body to promote women

UN: The UN General Assembly has approved a resolution to create a single UN body to promote the advancement of women.
The move has been hailed by the European Union as an important step in protecting women's rights.
The vote on Monday culminated nearly three years of negotiations, in which the EU has been a driving force, to merge four existing UN bodies dealing with women and create a single entity with greater clout headed by a high-ranking UN official.
But critics complained that the 192-nation General Assembly watered down the resolution at the last minute at the insistence of some member states, deleting any reference to the new body's future mandate.